Option #2

The piece of art that I chose entitled Eva Hesse Spectres, 1960. The name of the art form has an odd connotation: if poetry is not displayed, you cannot be influenced.  However, the phrase “specters” gives the impression that the author was being tracked down and was unable to get rid of whatever was bothering her. She truly dreads it; it’s like a trauma that she can’t get out of her head. This image was shot during World War II, as indicated by the time period. The author’s name is Eva Hesse. By looking at the artwork, you recognize that the time was quite gloomy because there was no use of light colors. The dark color demonstrates a gloomy, sad little girl. This also implies that she is not really happy with the current condition; looking at the darker background, the environment was the thing that was affecting her mood. 

The main purpose of the art is to show the author’s childhood and the trauma she has been through. The picture accurately depicted the words in every detail, down to the color and form. Like I said previously, the dark tone conveys the anguish of her being in Germany. In order to flee the terrible Nazi dictatorship, she moved to New York City. The gloomy color gave me the frightened, helpless feeling of a small child. The poor background gives the impression that she has nowhere to run; she is lonely and by herself, and everything around her is dreary. The dark brown and bright yellow eyes, as well as a little mixture of deeper colors beneath the bright yellow, which was sketched in an odd form, depict the night she remained awake out of dread that she or any of her family members might be abducted. The dark brown tone under her eye bags, caused by the restless night, is visible. This color coding made me feel lonely and to see my younger self. The sleepless night I had when my dad was away in a different country was in fear that something would happen to him and that I would forget our memory that we had created together. But as the author frames tell a deeper story, The author Eva Hesse Spectres was born a Jewish girl in Germany. She moved to New York City to escape the oppressive Nazi regime. She was one of the last children saved by Kindertransport, a resume program that transported Jewish children to unoccupied areas of Europe. They rejoined their family in New York City a year later. The image was cropped in a very heartbroken way because she was full of fear; she could not make eye contact. She avoids eye contact with strangers out of fear that she will stand out in a crowd and that someone would notice that she is Jewish. As the author quoted “The world thought I was a cute, smart kid and I kidded them. But at home I was called a terror. I was a Miserable, I had trouble-tremendous fear.” This reveals how the author presents herself; she wears a ribbon to make herself appear charming and adorable, demonstrating her outgoing and sociable attitude, illustrating her life in New York, but when she is at home, which is Germany, she is terrified, overcome with anxiety, and miserable.  

The author used pathos to illustrate her childhood narrative, to sum up. Her target audience was essentially everyone, especially those who suffered during the war or whose families did. The major goal was to demonstrate to her the suffering and terror she had experienced while living in Germany, being transferred, and being unable to visit her family for years.